Summer Homework

June 1 – June 7






Every summer I decide to read books to improve my reading. This time I got inspired. I began to read a book by Sophie Kinsella called “The Undomestic Goddess”. It tells the story of a workaholic lawyer called Samantha Sweeting. She is extremely smart and does well in any task her job brings, but when it comes to domestic stuff, she has no clue. One day she makes a huge mistake and decides to walk out the office and jump on a train, which leads her to the middle of nowhere. There she is hired by the Geigers who think she’s the housekeeper they needed. She also falls in love with Nathaniel, the gardener, learns how to be a great cook and maid, and makes a lot of friends. But, one day, she finds out her mistake was not her fault, and when she finally set things right, everyone learns who she really is and they are surprised. Then she enters a period of confusion because she doesn’t know if she still wants to be a rich lawyer (like her mom and co-workers want) or a normal housekeeper. At the end she decides to still be a housekeeper and stays with her new true friends and the man she loves. I liked it because it shows you that the decision of which job you choose does not have to be based on how much they pay you in it or what other people want you to do. It must be based on the way you feel when you are doing it, if YOU like it or not. (Word count 267)



June 8 – June14..
This week i read a book called Secret Society by Tome Dolby. It´s about a group of teenagers whoget inducted into a Secret Society and get a small tattoo of an Egyptian Ankh in the back of their necks. Throughout the book, good things happen to these people as they get opportunities for their future careers, like internships and such. However, they find out that the society has existed since the 1920s and they are not that kind at all because they expect you to return the favor by obeying their commands. I liked it because there is a mystery throughout the book so you don’t want to stop reading. I think if this were to happen in real life, it would be incredible because that society helps you get into the best college and gives you a lot of career opportunities. I disliked it because they kill a character I loved at the end of the novel, and also because, although it might be fun to be a part of the society, it would be like cheating. Maybe a less fortunate person who deserves to go to that college more than you do, doesn’t get to go because the society likes people that have money and pull some strings to get you what you want, forgetting about the hard working people that are not in it. (word count 228)



June 15 – June 21
This wee I finished reading another book written by Sophie Kinsella and its called “Can you keep a secret?”. It’s about a woman named Emma Corrigan, who works in a company called Panther Corporation. One day she’s on a business flight to Scotland and sits beside a handsome stranger in the plane, to whom she tells all her secrets because the plane goes though turbulence and she get very nervous. She was relieved because she thought she wouldn’t see the man again, but he turned out to be Jack Harper, the CEO of the Panther Corporation. She falls in love with him, and many hilarious things happen, but one day Jack gets carried away and tells all her secretes in an interview and everyone realizes she’s the women Jack Harper is describing , so some people get angry at her because some of her secretes involved them. She really gets mad with Jack because she embarrassed her in front of everyone, but at the end, she forgives him and they are madly in love. I liked it because it shows you that the perfect man for you and the man you should be with is the man that knows all your flaws and still loves you. It also shows that although the truth hurts you should always be honest because it will make the relationship with the person stronger and closer. (word count 231)



June 22 – June 28

This week I arrived to my summer camp in Switzerland, Lugano. It is called TASIS, which stands for The American School of Switzerland. I am meeting a lot of people from all over the world. Some of them are from Spain, South America and Dominican Republic, so I speak to them in Spanish.The others are from places like Russia, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, China,Norway, and many other places. I have to speak English to communicate with them, and the rest of the staff in TASIS. I took art as an activity and the teacher was American. He taught us about 2 point perspectives and I felt proud because SUPER MR. PAWLICK has already shown us that. I also took horseback riding lessons and the instructor taught us everything in English. We take singing lessons and since I am learning Italian we sing in Italian but this week we sang Waka Waka by Shakira with the English class in front of the whole camp! It was exciting! (word count 169)


June 29 – July 5

This week I went to Venice with 3 advisors and 20 campmates. You would think I didn’t practice my English here but I did. I had to talk to my advisors in English because they couldn’t speak Spanish. They spoke it very well because one of them was American, the other was a German who went to a British school and the other was a French guy who had taken an English course in Paris. I thought that I could order in Italian, but that didn’t works so I communicated with the waiters in English. We also went on a gondola ride and the man who drove us told us that they had to go to a special college were they teach you four languages, one of them being English, how to drive a gondola, how to swim and save people, and all about Venice. His name was Carlo and he liked Spaghetti. He could speak English very well but he did have an Italian accent. (Word count 166)



July 6 – July 12

This week I went to Paris, the city of lights. I also spoke English with the campmates and my advisors. We went on a bike tour at night and the tour guide told us everything we had to know in English. In the restaurant they gave us menus that explained everything they had in English and in French. We went to the museum of modern art and the tags for every painting had the details in English. I saw American painters like Andy Warhol, which is one of my favorite modern art painters. I shopped a lot in Paris so I talked with the people in the stores in English. To go and leave Paris we went on a overnight train and on our way back we had to negotiate with people from all around the world in English. Some of them couldn’t understand it so I tried to speak French, it didn’t go well, but one advisor, Andy, came and saved the day because he could speak French, it was fun. (word count 162)

July 13 – July 19

This week I went to Milan with my parents and we met with some close friends who live there. I went to the movies with Ronald, who’s like my big brother, and chose to see Killers. The movie was in Italian but it had English subtitles so that made me get better in my reading skills. Ronald was also helping me understand everything but it was funny. The movie is about a couple who meet in a vacation in the coast of France. She is a smart, beautiful girl named Jen and he is a handsome government-hired super assassin named Spencer. He leaves that job and marries Jen. Three years later they are still happy together, but Jen finds out about Spencer past because there is someone who wants to kill him. At the end they overcome all their problems and dangers and they are really happy because they find out Jen is expecting a baby. I liked the movie because it was very funny and it showed me that family and love always comes first. (word count 176)





July 20 – July 26
This week I saw one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life. It is called Inception, and it was directed by Christopher Nolan. It’s about a man named Dom Cobb who can steal ideas from someone’s subconscious. He has the ability to go into people’s dreams and see what he needs to know. One day he is offered a job that will give him the opportunity to see his children again, so he takes it. To complete this job, he has to get into 3 levels of dream. To do this he puts the man to sleep, gets in his dream, puts him to sleep in that dream, and gets in his dream and again puts him to sleep in the second dream and gets into the 3 dream. This is a hard task because the man he has to do this to has been trained to protect his dream. Another thing that threatens the operation is his wife Mal, who want him to be with him in a place called loom. At the end every on who is working for him wake up, but he gets lost in his dreams. This is proved because he had an object that tumbled and stop if he was in the real world, the object didn’t stop. That’s what I understood and I did my best to explain it. I liked it because it was hard to understand and it was about dreams, a topic that is still a mystery. You don’t know why the dreams look so real. Sometimes I don’t even know if I’m dreaming. I also can relate to the movie because I have felt the feeling that you are falling and you suddenly wake up, which they referred to as a kick. I loved it, it was great. (word count 302)